STAFF at Liverpool’s St John Ambulance were today fearing for their jobs amid plans to move their posts to Manchester.

Around 24 back-office staff who support the frontline first-aiders are currently being consulted over the proposals.

The move to Stockport, in Greater Manchester, would mean the closure of the Merseyside branch in city centre Edgar Street, affecting 12 full-time administration and human resources staff and a further 13 casual staff.

The ECHO understands that the role of chief executive of Merseyside, currently occupied by Ian Moss, will be deleted, although the region’s branch has the opportunity to put in counter-proposals in the hope of saving their office.

But some staff said rumours about what changes may take place were causing unease.

A source said: “No-one knows what is going to happen and that is when the Chinese whispers start.

“It was in the pipeline for a couple of years and of course there is uncertainty among the workforce.”

A leaked copy of the proposals, obtained by the ECHO, states that the number of administrative and human resources staff will be reduced from 27 to 16.

But some of the roles to be centralised in Stockport include those running training and community projects, including those in schools.

Heather Arrowsmith, regional director for St John Ambulance, said: “The situation in Merseyside St John Ambulance is currently being reviewed and consultation is underway with employees to determine a final structure.

“’We need to focus on first aid and change our structure to better meet the needs of society.

“Our previous structure, with 41 semi-autonomous headquarters, did not allow us to tackle this situation as quickly and efficiently as we needed.

“The new structure of eight regions is less expensive and means resources can be shared so we can better target areas that need our help.

“With these changes, we can be more responsive to society’s first aid needs and help more people be the difference between life and death.”

Wavertree Cllr Jake Morrison is currently campaigning for defibrillators to be placed in all schools following the death of Liverpool youngster Oliver King from sudden arrythmic death syndrome (SADS).

He said: “It is a priority of ours to get young people educated about first aid and it would be worrying if any such projects could be at risk through this move.”